♦ The Clippers tie up their NBA playoff series 2-2, beating the Suns 114-107 at Staples Center on Sunday.

♦ USC basketball freshman Ryan Francis was shot and killed while riding in a car in his hometown of Baton Rouge. A suspect has been arrested.

♦L.A. Times book editor David Ulin, in the West magazine cover story, proclaims "Charlie Kaufman is a great American writer. Let's not equivocate or qualify this in any way. Yes, he writes for the movies; yes, his medium is the 100-plus-page script. But in all the ways that matter—his mastery of structure, his voice and vision, his recognition of the power of the word to remake the world—he stands with the finest writers of his generation, among them David Foster Wallace, Mona Simpson, Michael Chabon, Aimee Bender, Colson Whitehead and Jonathan Safran Foer. At times, he is even the best."

♦ Neighborhood councils have spent less than half the $11 million in city money sent their way—and the Daily News plays it as a problem?

♦ About three weeks after being given an advance look at the Grand Avenue plans and publishing a no-questions-asked front-pager, the Times runs a favorable Business section piece on Related Companies developer Bill Witte: "People who've watched Witte in action say the soft-spoken developer is particularly adept at building consensus and pushing forward the project, designed to fulfill the dream of public officials who want the mostly empty blocks around Disney Hall transformed into a thriving urban hub."

♦ The Times endorses Phil Angelides in the Democrats' primary for governor, despite dismissing him and Steve Westly as "leaden...colorless and uninspiring...unable to connect with the average nonmillionaire Californian." Angelides, says the LAT editorial board, "may lack charisma, but he doesn't lack conviction...[and] may be dull, but he is not shallow."

♦ Sunday's LAT catches up to the Union 76 ball issue, focusing on the campaign launched in January by Kim Cooper of the 1947 Project.

♦ Retired TV news reporter, writer and news director Jere Witter died at age 79 of complications from cancer. His L.A. career began with "The Big News" on Channel 2 in 1962, then he became the writer for "Ralph Story's Los Angeles." The Beverly Hills High grad later was a reporter and writer for KOCE in Orange County.

♦ Subtract one Los Angeles neighborhood: Manchester Square near LAX.

♦ The Sunday New York Times runs a piece on the NFL and Los Angeles, quoting me and picking up on the LA Observed item about calling the team the Los Angeles Celebs. The NYT also examines writer-director Jessica Bendinger's hoop earrings.